Marko Bošnjak (musician)

Marko Bošnjak (; born 11 January 2004) is a Bosnian Croat singer-songwriter. He rose to fame as the winner of the second season of the Serbian talent show ''Pinkove Zvezdice''. He represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song " Poison Cake".

Early life

Bošnjak was born in the Herzegovinian city of Mostar and grew up in the town of Prozor. Since the age of five, he sang in a church choir after his mother forced his older sisters to take him with them. Already at that age, he won the (''Children Singing to Jesus'') festival. At the age of 11, Bošnjak signed himself up for the Serbian talent show (''Pink's Little Stars''), despite his father's objections due to the driving distance.

Bošnjak was a victim of school bullying in Prozor-Rama as he was "different" from other children of his age, which prompted him to change his environment and ultimately move to Zagreb, Croatia. Upon moving to Zagreb, he worked various jobs, such as nightclubs, customer support at LELO, and at KFC in Črnomerec. His confession about his KFC job in April 2023 went viral, as he had already risen to prominence up to that point. He quit KFC the following month to focus fully on music, although he did express his confusion to ''Story.hr'': "All of that fuss'surprised me, too, because I don't know since when it became embarrassing to work."

Music career

Starting on 4 September 2015, Bošnjak appeared as a contestant on the second season of ''Pinkove Zvezdice''. On the first show, Bošnjak sang Jennifer Hudson's song " One Night Only". All five judges, Milan Stanković, Jelena Tomašević, Goca Tržan, Hari Varešanović and Leontina Vukomanović, turned their chairs up and voted him directly into the next round. At his second appearance he sang Zdravko Čolić's " Kao moja mati" (''Like My Mother'') and advanced into the next round. On 6 January 2016, Bošnjak sang a rendition of Jadranka Stojaković's "Što te nema" (''Why Are You Not Here''). During the next episode, on 8 April 2016, Bošnjak performed Adele's " Don't You Remember". In the final, Bošnjak re-sang "Što te nema" and won the competition.

On 17 December 2021, Bošnjak was announced as one of the fourteen participants in , the national contest for Croatia's Eurovision Song Contest 2022 entry, with the song "Moli za nas" (''Pray For Us''). At the close of voting, the song had received 179 points, placing second in a field of 14. "Moli za nas" was officially released on 10 February 2022 as Bošnjak's debut single. On 27 April 2022, it was announced that Bošnjak would compete in the 62nd edition of the Split Festival with the song "Pjesma za kraj" (''Ending Song''). A year later, in early 2023, Bošnjak released his third single "Spokojan" (''Calm''). On 14 April 2023, Bošnjak released his fourth stand-alone single "Nema" (''There Is No'').

In June 2024, Bošnjak performed at that year's Zagreb Pride. In September 2024, Bošnjak performed at a charity show for Gaza at Zagreb's Klub Močvara, the proceeds of which were donated to the UNRWA. In November 2024, he released his seventh single "Takav dan" (''Such a Day''), lyrically inspired by Zana's 1982 hit "Dodirni mi kolena" (''Touch My Knees''). The lyric "" ("I'm beating you with the apartment key") sparked controversy and caused Bošnjak to be accused of promoting domestic violence; on HRT 1's show , he told Iva Šulentić that the lyric recontextualizes one of Zana's lyrics and is "a hyperbole, an intertextuality... Like a small threat, but not too serious."

On 5 December 2024, Bošnjak was announced as one of 24 participants in , the Croatian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, with the song " Poison Cake". On 24 February 2025, Bošnjak was announced to compete on the ninth season of the singing reality television series '' Tvoje lice zvuči poznato'', the Croatian edition of ''Your Face Sounds Familiar''. On 2 March 2025, Bošnjak won , and was set to represent Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. Following his victory, on 18 March, it was announced that Bošnjak would no longer participate in ''Tvoje lice zvuči poznato'' from the eighth episode onwards; at that point, only two episodes had been aired. Over the course of seven episodes, the last of which aired on 20 April 2025, he impersonated Mladen Grdović, Madonna, Zdravko Čolić, Miley Cyrus, Toše Proeski, Lady Gaga and Lepa Brena. On 13 May 2025, Bošnjak performed in the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, where he earned 28 points, placing twelfth and failing to qualify for the grand final.

Artistry and influences

At the age of 11, Bošnjak was initially releasing covers. He revealed in a March 2025 ''Gloria'' interview that his preferred musical styles range "from R&B and soul over hip-hop to classical music." Hesitant to name anybody as an influence on his music as he is "trying to be himself and create an authentic sound", he nevertheless named Lana Del Rey, Erykah Badu, SZA, Lola Young and Solange as artists he most frequently listens to, and acknowledged that his music "currently isn't inspired by them, but who knows, maybe it will be in the future." In the same interview, he stated that his biggest desire is to collaborate with Lorde. Bošnjak also expressed his admiration for Senidah, Josipa Lisac, Božo Vrećo and Filip Baloš.

For his fashion style, Bošnjak credited "fashion, but also musical icons such as David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, who proved to imthat fashion can truly be as powerful a form of expression as music."

Personal life

Bošnjak came out as gay in 2024, which attracted widespread homophobic backlash online following his victory a year later. On 30 March 2025, Bošnjak was a guest on the talk show '' Nedjeljom u dva'', where he discussed the backlash among other topics. The backlash continued following his failure to qualify to the final.

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
*TV interview in Nedeljom u 2 on youtube
Samo ljubav - Marko Bošnjak

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosnjak, Marko
2004 births
Living people
People from Prozor-Rama
21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina male singers
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Croatia
21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina LGBTQ people
21st-century Croatian LGBTQ people
Croatian gay men
Bosnia and Herzegovina gay men
Croatian LGBTQ singers
Bosnia and Herzegovina LGBTQ musicians
Eurovision Song Contest entrants